''El Noi de la Mare'' (The Child of the Mother) is a traditional Catalan Christmas song. The song was made famous outside Spain by

Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students. Segovia's contribution to the m ...

who used to perform

Miguel Llobet Miguel Llobet Solés (18 October 187822 February 1938) was a classical guitarist, born in Barcelona, Spain. Llobet was a renowned virtuoso who toured Europe and America extensively. He made well known arrangements of Catalan folk songs for the ...

's guitar transcription as an encore.

Lyrics

The main stanza has four verses and begins mostly with ''Què li darem a n'el Noi de la Mare?'' In some traditional ways of singing the song every pair of verses is repeated twice. The first stanza of a common version is:

Variants

The text exists in other slightly different variants.Miscellània Pere Bohigas 1981 p272 "La cançó popular d'aquest títol diu en una de les versions del segle xviii, que coneixia Verdaguer:" « — Què li darem an el Noi de la Mare? Què li darem a l'hermós Infantó? — Panses i figues i nous i olives, panses i figues i mel i mató." Classical vocal arrangements have been made by

Joaquín Nin-Culmell Joaquín María Nin-Culmell (5 September 190814 January 2004) was a Cuban-Spanish composer, internationally known concert pianist, and emeritus professor of music at the University of California, Berkeley. Early life Joaquín Nin-Culmell was born ...

for soprano and

John Rutter John Milford Rutter (born 24 September 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music. Biography Born on 24 September 1945 in London, the son of an industrial chemist and his wife, Rutte ...

for choir. A version of this in English has been reworked and developed to produce the carol "What Shall we Give?" as sung by the

Mormon Tabernacle Choir The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ov ...

Recordings

* (anon.) Title track of ''El Noi de la Mare, Mother and Son'' Zefiro Torna, Cécile Kempenaers, Els van Laethem, Jan van Elsacker and Lieven Termont (2006) * (anon.) Catalan Songs (Victoria de Los Angeles album) * (anon.) José Carreras Sings Catalan Songs * Kim Robertson (musician), ''Christmas Lullaby II'' (2017), Gourd Music

References

External links

*
Wikisource
{{authority control Songs in Catalan Christmas carols Songwriter unknown Year of song unknown

Lyrics

Variants

Recordings

See also

References

External links